Climate change report pours cold water on £2bn power station plan

Plans by energy group E.ON to build a £2bn power station will be dealt a blow
tomorrow when a government-funded report calls a halt to developing
coal-fired generators until new carbon capture technology is ready.

By Russell Hotten

11:02PM GMT 29 Nov 2008

The Committee on Climate Change report is understood to conclude that building more coal power plants without the technology would make it difficult for the Government to reach its targets on cutting carbon emissions.

It also raises questions over several proposed coal-fired plants, including E.ON's controversial Kingsnorth project in Kent, and puts further pressure on the Government about how to deal with the energy shortage facing Britain.

Lord Turner of Ecchinswell, chairman of the committee, was asked to prepare a wide-ranging study into how Britain can meet emissions targets and to create five-year carbon budgets for individual industries, including transport and engineering.

His "road map" to a de-carbonised Britain is expected to recommend a rise in wind power and other renewable energy sources. But Lord Turner has also decided that using more coal-fired stations to generate electricity should not be approved until carbon capture and storage (CCS) is available for commercial use. Experts say CCS is years away.

The energy industry wants to build coal plants and fit CCS when the technology is ready. It believes retro-fitting is the most sensible option given that coal-fired generation is a relatively immediate power source as Britain heads towards an energy crunch from around 2012-15.

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Judy Tanselle, president of White Energy Coal North America, which is looking to expand in the UK, said: "The truth about renewables, like solar or wind, is that their development will not be at a point where we can rely on them for some time. So to satisfy our energy needs, we must rely on a better mix of gas, nuclear and coal - coal being the cheapest of those three."